1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inkjet recording apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-025026 discloses an inkjet recording apparatus capable of performing preliminary ejection to prevent poor ink ejection. The inkjet recording apparatus moves a recording head to a non-recording region outside a sheet to perform preliminary ejection onto an ink receiver. This can reduce clogging in the recording head and occurrence of poor ink ejection.
To improve printing throughput, it is preferable that both recording on a sheet and preliminary ejection be performed in the same scan of the recording head that reciprocates for image recording. In scanning of the recording head, it is desirable to minimize the moving distance of the recording head by determining the reversing position for reversing the head scanning direction in accordance with a recording region of the sheet.
However, depending on the recording region on the sheet and which of a plurality of nozzle arrays of the recording head is or are to be used for recording, some of the nozzle arrays may not be able to reach a position above the ink receiver during reciprocation. Preliminary ejection from nozzle arrays that fail to reach the position above the ink receiver cannot be performed. This leads to poor ink ejection and degradation in image quality.